Mega Projects

Sorek-israel's biggest Pumping Station

The New National Project: Establishing a Pumping Station at the Sorek Desalination Plant

EMS Mekorot Projects has just completed the construction of the Israel’s largest pumping station. The pumping station is situated at the Sorek site alongside the Sorek River in the vicinity of Rishon Lezion; and it includes a desalination plant, a pumping station and reservoirs. The objective of the project is to collect the desalinated water and distribute it nationwide.

The project, estimated to be worth NIS millions, included:

¨Setting up a pumping station housing 13 pumping units.

¨At the initial stage, 6 pumping units will operated, with a discharge capacity of 6,300 M^3/h as well as two additional pumping units with a discharge capacity of 3,000 M^3/h.

¨Development, design and manufacture of 6 pumps with a total discharge capacity of 6,300 M^3/h.

¨Design, manufacture and installation of 13 76" diameter tanks.

¨Implementing a wide range of civil engineering works including preparation of the foundations for the 13 pumping units and for the diesel generator building.

¨Constructing buildings for electricity and control that include sampling and HMI rooms, storage facilities for chemicals and diesel fuel, ditches for valves, sampling and injection, earthwork and landscape restoration.

¨Design and installation of local and remote control software, including an HMI system.

Furthermore, a number of water conducting pipelines were laid:

A pipeline from the Sorek Station to the North West Yarkon pipeline.

This pipeline is comprised of 2 100" diameter sections of a total length of 4.8 km. which crosses roads and various other infrastructures.

A pipeline from the Sorek Station to the Palmahim Desalination plant branch pipeline.

This pipeline crosses Road 4311 in the vicinity of Kibbutz Palmahim. The pipeline is 100" in diameter and 2 km. in length. Laying the pipe required coordination with the management of the Kibbutz and included restoration of the landscape in the area.

A parallel pipeline to the Palmahim pipeline

This pipeline crosses Highway 4 and the railway line on its way to the national water carrier pipeline. The pipe is 54" in diameter and approximately 1.75 km. in length. The work on the pipeline was delayed because the excavation work uncovered graves that required coordination with the Hevra Kadisha Burial Society before work could be continued.

EMS was required to meet very tight deadlines in this project. The work, which continued for more than two years, required employees to work overtime until the late evening and on Fridays in order to meet the required deadlines.

At its peak, the project employed some 300 personnel and 40 engineering vehicles (excavators, backhoes and loaders), working under extraordinary working conditions, including work in areas with a high groundwater table, which required the lowering of the table, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, over the course of about a year.